Coffee Flavor and Cupping

When the wine sommelier makes strange noises during the tasting and speaks of a flowery bouquet, fruity aromas of peach and melon, a silky texture and a long finish, this is normal.But what if I tell you that exactly this is done with coffee as well?

Why?

With the tongue we can only distinguish four flavors – sweet, sour, salty and bitter. In roasted coffee, however, over 1000 flavors can be detected, which gives our cup of coffee such a unique taste.
Tastings are therefore part of the overall evaluation of the quality of a coffee. They are common practice by many different coffee production experts:

Then one examines the smell of the coffee powder by shaking it lightly in the cup and describe the smell of the powder in a small form. This can vary depending on the type of coffee and variety like weak or intense to sweet, fruity and flowery or chocolaty.

“Breaking the coffee“: In order to be able to evaluate the aroma of the coffee, you bend over the cup very close. For a more intense perception, it is also easy to stir with the spoon on the surface of the coffee. And again you make some notes about the aroma and smell.

When the coffee has cooled to about 70 °C, the the fun part begins: fill the spoon ¾ with the coffee from the cup, lead the spoon to the mouth and trie to pull the coffee jerkily into the mouth, that the whole tongue is covered – with slightly open mouth, so that at the same time some air is sucked in with.How long you keep the coffee in the mouth to describe the taste and the sensory best is really up to you. After you spit the coffee in a small bowl or cup and rinse the spoon with water. Then you taste the next coffee. After the first round you make 1 – 2 min break. Rinse your mouth with water and repeat the tasting. The perception should now be more intense. Afterwards make notes in a table about the flavor, taste, aftertaste, acid, sweetness, body and balance.The SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) developed a protocol and cupping form for this purpose. After 2 or 3 rounds, take a break of about 10 min. and repeat the entire process one more time and take notes again. To help you describing the aroma the aroma wheel is very helpful.